Recruit Scandal

Prosecutors today questioned elected officials for the first time who are suspects in the influence-peddling scandal that has caused a rash of resignations and damaged public confidence in Japanese politics. The list of disgraced party leaders also grew as the chairman of the opposition Komeito, or Clean Government Party, said he would resign. Junya Yano is the third party head to announce his resignation because of the scandal, following Prime Minister Norobu Takeshita as president of the governing Liberal Democrats and Saburo Tsukamoto of the Democratic Socialists.

Hundreds of National Guard recruiters and soldiers are under investigation for illegally taking more $29 million in bonuses for signing up recruits at the height of the Iraq war. Army investigators say that an outside contractor paid $700 to $1,200 bonuses even when the recipients had no role in signing up recruits. The Army shut down the program in 2012. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), whose subcommittee is holding a hearing on the case Tuesday, called it "one of the biggest fraud investigations in Army history.

May 16, 1989 | ALAN M. WEBBER, Alan M. Webber, managing editor of the Harvard Business Review , is in Tokyo as a U.S. Japan Society Leadership Fellow. and

American observers, seeking to make sense of Japan's Recruit scandal, might be tempted to measure it against our Watergate episode. Both involved huge sums of illegal money; both were cracked open by enterprising reporters who had been assigned to a seemingly unimportant beat; both tripped up top business leaders, featured humiliating arrests and criminal convictions, and both ultimately led to the door of the highest government official in the land....

It has been described as the "perfect storm" of scandals, a cloudy concoction of sex, drugs, alcohol, race, gender and a major administrative power failure. Some say it could have happened anywhere, but it didn't. This twister touched down in a posh, postcard town tucked in the Rocky Mountain foothills. The University of Colorado hardly owns the collegiate football scandal beat. Fourteen Ohio State players have been arrested since 2001 for charges ranging from robbery to felony drug abuse.

The battle against corruption in Japan suffered a major setback Tuesday as a former chief Cabinet secretary was found not guilty of accepting a bribe--despite having received more than $400,000 in funds from a favor-seeking businessman. It was the first verdict involving a politician in the infamous stocks-for-favors Recruit scandal of 1988-89, which spurred the resignation of Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita and tainted every leader of the then-ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

A former chairman of Japan's largest company was convicted today of bribery in the widespread influence-buying Recruit scandal, which had played a role in bringing down two prime ministers. The Tokyo District Court ordered a two-year suspended prison term and a $175,000 fine for Hisashi Shinto, 80, for accepting an offer of prelisted stock that seemed certain to rise in value, court officials said. The non-jury trial of the former Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp.

Share prices advanced in Tokyo this morning on the expectation that Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita's resignation will clear the air of the Recruit scandal, brokers said. Takeshita confirmed at a midday press conference that he will step down after Parliament passes the government's 1989-90 budget. That is likely to occur by late May. The budget has been stalled in Parliament since March because of a boycott over the scandal by the opposition. The 225-share Nikkei index climbed from the opening on speculation Takeshita would quit and then pushed higher when news came that leaders of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party had actually accepted his offer to go. "Once he is out, the LDP can unify," said Jeff Uscher, head of research at Smith New Court.

Kiyoshi Kishimoto was trained to sing folk ballads, the kind with morals attached, in which virtuous samurai are rewarded in old age for their earlier acts of benevolence. Words failed him, however, when he tried to write contemporary lyrics in the tradition of the Kawachi ballad, which is named for his native region near Osaka. Things were just not the way they were supposed to be. The golden rule was no longer in evidence. Everything had been turned around. "If you do bad these days, you're rewarded," Kishimoto lamented the other day. "If you cheat, you'll make a lot of money."

April 26, 1989 | JAY COLLINS, Jay Collins, a specialist in Japanese studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, has just returned from a month of meetings in Tokyo. and

The Recruit Co. scandal has brought the political system of the world's second largest economic power to a screeching halt. But the announcement of the forthcoming resignation of Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita is an attempt to get Japan moving again. Like the long-running saga of Watergate, the Recruit scandal has prevented the ruling Liberal Democratic Party from advancing its domestic and foreign policy agenda. The opposition parties have refused to consider the 1989 budget until the leadership of the Liberal Democrats, namely former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone and Takeshita, explained their involvement in the scandal to the Diet or resigned.

Gary Barnett's career as University of Colorado football coach remained suspended as he emerged from a meeting Wednesday with Athletic Director Dick Tharp at the Dal Ward Athletic Center. The question was, for how much longer? Barnett said he could not comment on the matter until "things settled down." His life has been in limbo since he was placed on paid administrative leave in February. Wednesday, he said, someone had even taken his parking place.

A panel investigating the University of Colorado athletic department has concluded that sex, alcohol and drugs were used to lure football recruits to the program but that school officials, including football Coach Gary Barnett, did not knowingly sanction the practice. The 45-page final report issued by an eight-member Independent Investigative Commission was obtained by the Rocky Mountain News and posted Tuesday on its website.

His eyes are the first thing you notice. Bright green, nearly translucent. They dim only when he grimaces, when he thinks back. Two years have passed since Dante Clay, just 14 years old, stumbled into a football recruiting scandal more befitting a big-time college player. His story is not unique--school administrators say that throughout Los Angeles and the country, the ills of professional and college sports are seeping ever deeper into the high school ranks.

The battle against corruption in Japan suffered a major setback Tuesday as a former chief Cabinet secretary was found not guilty of accepting a bribe--despite having received more than $400,000 in funds from a favor-seeking businessman. It was the first verdict involving a politician in the infamous stocks-for-favors Recruit scandal of 1988-89, which spurred the resignation of Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita and tainted every leader of the then-ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

A top Japanese businessman received a suspended jail sentence and heavy fine Tuesday for his role in the 1988 Recruit corruption scandal, which brought down the government and sparked fierce debate about political fund raising. But political analysts said the verdict will have little impact in reforming the nation's money-oriented political system. Hisashi Shinto, former chairman of telecommunications giant Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp.

A former chairman of Japan's largest company was convicted today of bribery in the widespread influence-buying Recruit scandal, which had played a role in bringing down two prime ministers. The Tokyo District Court ordered a two-year suspended prison term and a $175,000 fine for Hisashi Shinto, 80, for accepting an offer of prelisted stock that seemed certain to rise in value, court officials said. The non-jury trial of the former Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp.

Japan's political world is embroiled in a major bribery scandal, creating a crisis of confidence for the conservative, pro-American party that has ruled without serious challenge for more than 33 years. Opinion polls suggest the public is furious. Leftist opposition parties are sabotaging proceedings on the budget in Parliament.

April 16, 1989 | David Williams, David Williams, an editorial writer for the Japan Times, is the author of "Calder, Crisis and Compensation: Public Policy and Political Stability in Japan, 1949-1986" (Princeton University Press)

Japan's political pundits are agreed: The days of Noboru Takeshita's government are numbered. Rocked by almost daily revelations of influence-peddling at the heart of Japan's ruling elite, less than 15% of the Japanese public now supports the Takeshita Cabinet. If the Recruit scandal had not cast a shadow over his most likely successors, the man would surely be out of office already. The Takeshita government is therefore doomed. The struggle to find a successor within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, the progress of the investigations of the public prosecutor's office and the mass media's uncovering of another spectacular wrong-doing will determine when and how the end comes for Takeshita.

A former Labor Ministry official was convicted on bribery charges Monday in the nation's most serious financial scandal, the Recruit Co. affair that toppled one prime minister and contributed to the resignation of another last year.

Corruption is out of fashion as an issue in Japanese politics these days, and cries for political reform have given way to an adage: It's better for a politician to be a little dirty and get the job done than to be very clean but incompetent.